|
By Emil Noguera, Contributor
THE national boxing team has
found a godfather in Manny V. Pangilinan, who expressed his interest
to support the boxers’ campaign in the forthcoming Southeast Asian
Games in Thailand.
Pangilinan, also head of the
country’s amateur basketball association, confirmed his plan to
help boxing in a meeting with Amateur Boxing Association of the
Philippines president Manny Lopez on Sunday at the PLDT office in
Makati.
“He’s [Pangilinan] committed
to help sports which are gold medal potentials and I’m very happy
that he considers boxing as one of these sports which will deliver
in the SEA Games,” said Lopez.
Lopez is scheduled to meet with
Pangilinan on Thursday, when the latter returns from Hong Kong.
“Maganda naman ang resulta ng
unang meeting namin at sabi ni Mr. Pangilinan, mag-uusap uli kami
pagbalik niya. Hopefully, we will be able to finalize his commitment
to the national boxing team,” added Lopez.
Lopez also bared the rehiring of
Cuban coach Raul Liranza, who trained 1996 Atlanta Olympics silver
medalist Onyok Velasco. Liranza, whose contract expired in 2003,
will arrive next week.
Meanwhile, Philippine Sports
Commission chairman William Ramirez stressed the importance of
sacrifice, unity and unconditional love for the country to achieve
the dream of winning an Olympic gold.
“These are the three elements
of success in sports which I learned during my stay in Cuba,” said
Ramirez.
“There is no secret about the
success of Cuba, China or even the United States in sports. What
makes them triumphant in sports is because both officials and
athletes play and train hard with big fighting heart,” said
Ramirez, who just arrived from Havana where he signed a joint
RP-Cuba sports and bilateral agreement.
“Sa Cuba, talagang nasa puso
nila ang ensayo, puno ng sakripisyo at may pagkakaisa sa programang
binuo para sa kapakanan ng atin mga atleta. Tayo sa Pilipinas, meron
ba tayong puso para sa sports? Handa ba tayong mag-sakripisyo?
Tingin ko hindi dahil sa mga opisyal pa lang, bangayan at inggitan
na,” Ramirez said.
Meanwhile, only 25 athletes and
coaches from four sports will leave for China on Thursday to attend
an intensive training in the state-of-the-art New International
Training Center in Guangzhou.
The gymnasts decided to forgo the
training in China due to conflict in schedule while the shooters
wanted to hire a foreign coach to handle their local training.
The first batch of athletes going
to China is composed of eight divers, six wushu artists, five
fencers and one weightlifter along with five coaches.
“Tuloy na ang pag-alis ng mga
atleta. Kilalang respetado ang China globally and they are willing
to help us in our quest to qualify in the 2008 Beijing Olympics,”
said Ramirez.
Ramirez said a three-star hotel
will be the temporary home of the Filipino athletes, whom will be
hadled by veteran Chinese coaches which include Chen Yanping, Wang
Meng, Sun iaoyang, Zhong Chengeen, Huang Hoimei, Chen Baijan and
Zhang Helying.
“Hindi basta-basta ang mga
coaches na ibinigay sa atin dahil ang mga ito ay mga Olympians. They
will travel from Beijing to Guangzhou just to handle the training of
our athletes plus the fact na ang training facilities na gagamitin
ay bago lahat,” added Ramirez.
The China-bound athletes are
divers Shiela Mae Perez, Zardo Domenios, Nino Carog, Jaime Asok,
Rexel Ryan Fabriga, Kevin Kong and Fil-Canadian twin Dhayna and
Nicole Lemay, wushu’s Benjie Rivera, Eduard Folayang, Marianne
Mariano, Mary Rose Estimar, Willy Wang and Janice Hung , fencers
Emerson Segui, Rolando Canlas, Gian Nocom, Joanna Franquelli and
Venna Tessa Nuestro and weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz.
Besides the SEA Games, the
national athletes are also preparing for the 2008 Beijing Olympics
where the Philippines aims to snatch its first gold medal in the
prestigious quadrennial meet.
|
